Managing Service Demand at the Point of Delivery

The component processes by which demand management at the point of delivery might be accomplished are presented.Overemphasis of the "professionalism" of service production and delivery can lead a service operation to miss important opportunities for increasing both efficiency and effectiveness.Demand management through "deprofessionalization" processes-including routinization, decoupling, delegation, and mechanization-involves a bidirectional matching process.The process is defined by three elements (customers, services, and delivery modes) and three functions (matching, segmenting, and channeling.)